how do you cite a website in an essay mla

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MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Websites

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Table of Contents

Entire website - no separate pages or sections, page or section from a website.

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.

The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is put on the bottom of the pages of a website.

If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day. If the source does not include a copyright/last modified date, then omit the date and include an access date in your citation instead.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Author, or compiler name (if available).  Title of Website,  Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed access date.

Works Cited List Example:

Mabillard, Amanda.  Shakespeare Online,  29 Dec. 2011, www.shakespeare-online.com. Accessed 6 July 2016.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name)

(Mabillard)

Note: In this example, the name of the organization affiliated with the website is omitted since it is the same as the website title.

Created by an Unknown Author, or the Author is the same as the Website Title/Publisher

 "Title of Section."  Title of Website,  Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of publication or last modified date, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Note: The publisher or sponsoring organization can often be found in a copyright notice at the bottom of the home page or on a page that gives information about the site . If the website publisher is the same as the author and title of the web site , then include only the title of the web site. 

“ Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview.”  WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

("Title of Section")

(“Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview”)

Created by a Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page or Document."  Title of Website,  Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Morin, Amy. "How to Prevent the Media From Damaging Your Teen's Body Image."  Verywell Family,  About Inc., 6 Oct. 2019, www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019.

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Cite a Website in MLA

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in mla, how to create an mla website citation:.

When citing a website, you’re often actually citing a specific page on a website. You’re not actually citing the entire website.

Here is the most common way to cite a page on a website:

• Start the citation with the name of the author who wrote the information on the page. If there isn’t an author listed, do not include this information in the citation. Start the citation with the title.
• The title of the individual page is placed in quotation marks, followed by a period.
• Next, place the name of the website in italics, followed by a comma.
• If the name of the publisher matches the name of the author or the name of the title, do not include the publisher’s information in the citation.
• The date the page or website was published comes next.
• End the citation with the URL or DOI. When including the URL, copy the URL directly from the address bar or link in your browser window.

Last name, First name of author. “Title of Web Page.” Title of Website , Publisher, Date published, URL.

Rothfeld, Lindsay. “Smarter Education: The Rise of Big Data in the Classroom.” Mashable, 3 Sept. 2014, mashable.com/2014/09/03/education-data-video/#hViqdPbFbgqH.

You can usually leave out http:// or https:// from URLs unless you want to hyperlink them. For DOIs, use http:// or https:// before the DOI: https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxx.xxxx.xxxx.

If you’re still confused and feeling the urge to type “How to cite a website MLA” into Google, try out our free generator at the top of this page. Our citation generator MLA site is easy to use!

Social media:

If the user’s handle and real name are similar, you may include the real name and leave out the handle as long as a URL is also included. If the user’s real name and handle are different, include the hand in brackets after the real name.

Gates, Melinda. “Today, Bill and I were deeply humbled to accept France’s Legion of Honour award on behalf of all our foundation’s partners and grantees.” Twitter, 21 Apr. 2017, twitter.com/melindagates/status/855535625713459200.

Sandler, Adam. “California Strong celebrity softball game this Sunday at Pepperdine. All proceeds go to the victims of the wildfires and shooting in Thousand Oaks.” Facebook, 11 Jan. 2019, www.facebook.com/Sandler/.

Mizuhara, Kiko [@I_am_kiko]. “@vivi_mag_official shot by my sis @ashley_yuka.” Instagram, 25 June 2020, www.instagram.com/p/CB27SYahBpo.

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Citing a website in MLA style

When citing a website in MLA style, your citation should follow one of the basic formats below.

Webpage with an individual author

When citing websites, MLA usually requires you to abbreviate the names of months to three letters. For example, January becomes Jan.

Author Last Name, First Name. “Title.” Title of Site , Sponsor or Publisher [include only if different from website title or author], Day Month Year, URL.

Hamilton, Jon. “Think You’re Multitasking? Think Again.” National Public Radio , 2 Oct. 2008, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794 .

Webpage with no author or group author

If no author is available, or the webpage is authored by a group or organization, begin with the title of the webpage. If the title of the site is the same as the sponsor or publisher, omit the sponsor or publisher.

“Title.” Title of Site , Sponsor or Publisher, Day Month Year, URL.

“Turmeric.” National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health , Sep. 2016, nccih.nih.gov/health/turmeric/ataglance.htm.

Webpage with no date

If the webpage does not have any date information, or the page updates its content frequently (e.g., a wiki site), you should include an accessed date at the end of your citation to indicate when you were viewing the content.

Author Last Name, First Name. “Title.” Website name , URL. Accessed Day Month Year.

Gillingham, Kim. “How to Use the Dewey Decimal System.” Wikihow , https://www.wikihow.com/Use-the-Dewey-Decimal-System . Accessed 6 July 2023.

More information

To see more examples and other situations of citing books in MLA style, see the library's online MLA Citation Guide . You can also find the MLA Handbook (9th edition) in the Knowledge Center’s reference collection and in the Book Stacks. Purdue’s Online Writing Lab also has a comprehensive guide to MLA style .

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• Citing a Website

Please see below for MLA guidelines on how to cite an article found on a website (not a database), an entire website, or a government website.

• Page/Article on a Website
• Entire Website
• Government Website
• Help Resources

Citing a Page or Article on a Website

Format:  Author(s). “Title of Page/Article.”  Title of Website in Italics , Website Publisher (if different than title), Date of publication, URL.

*Note:   Exclude publisher if title of website and publisher are the same. *Note:  If website does not have a date or changes regularly, place a period after the URL and add the date accessed. See example below:

Example:  www.sccsc.edu. Accessed 7 May 2016.

*Note : You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.

*Note:  For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.

Website Article:

Example :  Stewart, Bob. “Biostimulants.”  Plant News , University of Maryland, 5 Aug. 2009, www.ipmnet.umd.edu/ 5-4art1.htm.

Example :  “Biospheres.”  Amazing Earth , www.amazingearth.com/biospheres/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020.

Citing an Entire Website

Format:  Author(s).  Title of Website in Italics . Website Publisher (if different than title), Date of Website, URL.

Example :  Museum of Natural History . Smithsonian, 2012, www.naturalhistory.si.edu/.

Citing a Government Website

Example:  "Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers."  Occupational Outlook Handbook, , U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 Sep. 2021, www.bls.gov/ooh/production/welders-cutters-solderers-and-brazers.htm.

Example:  "Lung Cancer Update (NIH Publication No. 20-6548)."  National Cancer Institute , 2020, www.cancer.gov/lungcanver206528/.

Note : When you have a source that has multiple government agencies listed, keep only the primary agency listed. In the above example, the  Occupational Outlook Handbook  was published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (the primary agency), which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. In the citation, list the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• How to Cite a Website in MLA Format This worksheet will break down how to cite information that was found on a website.
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How to Cite a Website Using MLA Format

Last Updated: February 14, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 274,167 times.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style is used for journals and research papers in the humanities. When making a citation, you must include a full citation on your works cited page, as well as a shorter in-text citation where you reference information from the website. The 8th edition of the MLA Handbook focuses on you providing as much information as you can based on a set of 8 core elements: the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, other contributors, the version, the number, the publisher, the publication date, and the location; less emphasis is put on formatting than on consistency. However, you will not be able to find all this information when you're making a citation for a website, so you only put in what you can find.

Citing an Entire Website

• When listing the name, put the last name first, followed by a comma and the first and middle names (if available).
• It should look like the following name: Roberts, Rebeca Jean.
• Put a period after the name.
• In the case of authors, you're now allowed to use a handle (such as a Twitter handle) rather than the author's name if you can't find a name, such as @felinesforthewin.

• The name of the website should be in italics.
• It should look like the following citation: Roberts, Rebeca. Cats Who Sleep,
• Use a comma after the website title.

• Add contributors in using the following method: Roberts, Rebeca Jean. Cats Who Sleep, edited by John Jacobs and Joseph George,
• Put a comma after the contributors.
• If the website doesn't have other contributors, leave this part out.

Warning! Remember to indent the second line. Without an indent, it is incorrect. This is called a hanging indentation.

• The publisher will follow the comma after the other contributors: Roberts, Rebeca Jean. Cats Who Sleep, edited by John Jacobs and Joseph George, The Cat Institute,
• If there are no other contributors, follow the website title with the publisher: Roberts, Rebeca Jean. Cats Who Sleep, The Cat Institute,
• Follow it with a comma.

• Don't use the "http://" or "https://" before the website. Instead, begin with "www."
• Add the website after the publisher: Roberts, Rebeca Jean. Cats Who Sleep, edited by John Jacobs and Joseph George, The Cat Institute, www.thewebsiteforsleepingcats.com.

• You can add the date you viewed the page if you wish, but you aren't required to include it. The date goes before the location.

Citing a Page From a Website

• Start with the last name first, followed by the first and middle names, if applicable: Fitzgerald, Rosa.
• Use a period after the name.
• If you can't find the author's name, you can use a handle in place of the name.

• Put the page title in quotation marks: Fitzgerald, Rosa. "The Sleeping Habits of Elderly Felines."
• Use a period before the final quotation mark.

• Put the website name in italics: Fitzgerald, Rosa. "The Sleeping Habits of Elderly Felines." Cats Who Sleep,
• Use a comma after the website name.

• The contributors come after the website name: Fitzgerald, Rosa. "The Sleeping Habits of Elderly Felines." Cats Who Sleep, edited by John Jacobs,
• Put a comma after the contributor.
• If you don't have other contributors, leave this part out.

• Add the publisher after the contributors. If there are no other contributors, add it after the website name: Fitzgerald, Rosa. "The Sleeping Habits of Elderly Felines." Cats Who Sleep, edited by John Jacobs, The Cat Institute,
• Use a comma afterwards.

• Place the website's URL after the publisher: Fitzgerald, Rosa. "The Sleeping Habits of Elderly Felines." Cats Who Sleep, edited by John Jacobs, The Cat Institute, www.thewebsiteforsleepingcats.com/sleeping-habits-of-elderly-felines.

Creating an In-Text Citation

• If you use information from other sources without citing it, it's considered plagiarism, with the exception of factual, common knowledge.
• Citing your sources is also a courtesy to your readers. It lets them know where they can find more information on the topic.

• You can also add a citation directly after the citation, preferably before a comma or other punctuation mark, if you're citing more than one source in a sentence.

Tip : There is no need to recite the publisher's name if you already mentioned it when introducing the quote. So, if you said "According to Purdue...", there isn't a need to re-add the author's name at the end. You can just finish the citation/quote without adding (Purdue...).

• Therefore a citation would look like the following in a sentence: Cats enjoy sleeping for many hours a day (Fitzgerald).
• You only use the last name when using the author's name.
• Use a shortened form of the title. Try to stick to 3 or 4 words that will lead the reader directly to the citation at the end. If you are using the page title (because the author's name is not available), it would look like the following sentence: Cats enjoy sleeping for many hours a day ("Sleeping Habits of Felines").

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• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://guides.library.unr.edu/mlacitation
• ↑ https://libguides.up.edu/mla/common/websites
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html

About This Article

To cite a website in your bibliography using Modern Language Association format, start by writing the author’s surname then first name. If the author’s name isn’t listed on the page, you might be able to find it in an about page. If you’re referencing a specific page from a website, put this next in quotation marks. Follow with the website name in italics. If the website has a separate publisher, include this next. Then, put the full URL at the end. Always start with WWW. instead of HTTP. For more tips from our Teaching co-author, including how to include multiple authors or editors in a website citation, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How To Cite A Website In MLA – Format & Examples

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Citing a website following the MLA format requires specific information to properly credit the source. This includes the author’s name, the title of the webpage or article, the name of the website, the publisher, the publication date, and the URL. Websites used in academic writing are typically owned and managed by organizations, companies, and institutions. If there is no author available, use the title of the website instead. Knowing how to cite a website in MLA is critical to make your research credible and avoid plagiarism .

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 How to cite a website in MLA – In a Nutshell
• 2 Definition: MLA website citation
• 3 How to cite a website in MLA – Online articles
• 4 How to cite a website in MLA – No author or date
• 5 How to cite a website in MLA – An entire website
• 6 How to cite a website in MLA – Publishers

How to cite a website in MLA – In a Nutshell

• MLA website citation is used to cite website sources in research papers and dissertations .
• Learn to master how to cite a website in MLA to ensure uniformity in academic papers.
• Use the MLA style across several disciplines as stipulated by the research requirements.
• Other styles include APA style and Chicago style .
• There are various formats of MLA website citation, depending on the given information.

Definition: MLA website citation

MLA website citation is guided by the framework of the MLA style of writing. Modern Language Association (MLA) is a format of writing used by students in various academic disciplines. It stipulates ways of formatting sources such as websites, as we shall see in the subsequent sections.

How to cite a website in MLA – Online articles

Articles from online sources such as magazines, newspapers, or blogs are often cited as primary and secondary sources for research publications. Researchers should know how to cite online sources to avoid plagiarism. It would be best if you used a title case for the article’s title and always included the publication date in full where it is available, i.e., year, month, and date.

Use the following guidelines where applicable:

• Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Name of Website , Day, Month, Year, URL

MLA Works Cited entry

• Rennison, Joe. “A Recession Alarm Is Ringing on Wall Street.” New York Times , 21 Jul. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/business/yield-curve-inversion.html

MLA In-text Citation

How to cite a website in MLA – No author or date

Sometimes, MLA web citation users may cite websites with no known author or date of publication. For sources without an author, it’s best to omit the author element in the citation. Use the title of the article or the page cited instead. In the in-text citation, a shortened version of the article is the most appropriate style. Your shortened title should match the first words of the entry in the Works Cited section.

Format your MLA website citation with no author as shown below:

MLA Format:

• “Article Title.” Name of Website , Date (Day, Month, and Year), URL

MLA Works Cited entry :

• “‘Magic mirror’: Hidden image revealed in reflection of the centuries-old artifact.” CNN , 13 Jul 2022, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/magic-mirror-cincinnati-art-museum-scn/index.html

MLA In-text Citation:

• “Magic Mirror 2022.”

MLA website citation with no author or date

Where a website has no publishing date, don’t include the date element. Use the date you accessed the website in your citation. Write your source as follows:

MLA format:

• “Title of Article.” Name of Website , URL. Accessed on Day Month Year.
• “Why Miyazaki mangoes are so expensive.” Insider , https://www.insider.com/why-miyazaki-japan-mango-are-so-expensive-2022-6 . Accessed 21 July 2022.

MLA in-text citation:

• (“Why Miyazaki”)

How to cite a website in MLA – An entire website

Sometimes, a student or researcher may want to cite an entire website. You can cite an entire website if there is no known author.

In MLA website citation, you should cite an entire website in the following format:

• Name of Website. Day Month Year, URL

MLA Works Cited entry:

• Paypal . www.paypal.com . Accessed 14 Aug 2019.

MLA in-text-citation:

When should a whole website be cited?

In most cases, you should reference a specific section or page of a website as the primary source. However, it is permissible to cite the whole website under certain circumstances. This is often used when mentioning a website in general without referring to any particular information or segment of the website. When citing several pages or articles from one website, ensure you include a distinct Works Cited entry for each.

How to cite a website in MLA – Publishers

If the website and the organization that manages it have different names, make sure to cite them.

Different publisher:

• Electric Car Parts. Electrical Systems, 2021, ev.com.
• “Communicable Diseases.” The Department of Health, World Health Organization , 6 June. 2019, www.who.com/-communicable/diseases.

Where the publisher and the website have the same name, you can omit it from the citation.

Same publisher:

• CNN. www.cnn.com . Accessed 8 July 2015.
• “IMF Warns against cryptocurrencies.” International Monetary Fund , 6 Aug 2017, www.imf.com /­article/­2019-­07-­03/­imf-­warns-­against.

The publisher’s name is located in the footer section, close to the copyright symbol.

How to cite a website in MLA?

MLA website citation includes:

• Author’s names (Last, first)
• Title of the source page
• Website name in italics

For sources without a known date or author, you should exclude these elements.

How do you cite multiple articles from the same website?

The guidelines on how to cite a website in MLA stipulate rules for citing several articles from a single website.

Always write a separate entry for Works Cited for each article!

What is the rule on how to cite a website in MLA without an author?

Some websites owned by organizations may not have an author associated with the work.

If you are citing a website without an author, use the article’s title and don’t include the name element.

What are the resources to learn how to cite a website in MLA?

The MLA site citation is documented in the MLA guide for writing academic papers and gives guidelines on properly citing sources and structuring your work.

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PYRE 1731: Introduction to Philosophy and Religion D 2024: Citation Guidance

• Research Resources
• Search & Evaluation Strategies

Citation Guidance

• Research Activity

Citation Resources

Use the tabs below to learn more about why and when to use citations, how to format Chicago style citations, and how to format MLA style citations.

• Why and When to Cite

Chicago Style Citations

Mla style citations, why do we cite our sources.

By citing your sources you:

• Give credit to others for their ideas (avoid plagiarism)
• Demonstrate to your reader how your own ideas stem from, differ from, or relate to those in your sources
• Distinguish your ideas from the ideas of others
• Lend credibility to your own work by citing credible sources
• Assist your reader, who may want to find the sources that you used

When To Cite Your Sources

You must provide a citation when:

• Quoting directly from a source (copying the words of another)
• Paraphrasing ideas or information from a source (rewriting a passage in your own words)
• Incorporating into your paper information or ideas that are not general knowledge

What's In A Citation

Citations at the end of your paper should always tell you:

• Who wrote the source? Who is the author, editor, artist, or organization behind the work? For a book, the citation will also include information about who published the source.
• What is it called? What is the title of the book, article, website, photograph, etc.?
• When was the source was published? What is the date of publication?
• Where can your reader find the source?  For a journal article, what journal is published in? For online sources, what is the URL or DOI (digital object identifier)?

Citation styles vary in how they present this information, but generally, these elements are always included.

The Chicago NB (Notes & Bibliography) system is often used in History scholarship and provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through footnote or endnote citation in their writing and through bibliography pages. It also offers writers an outlet for commenting on those cited sources. 

The Chicago Manual of Style

Resources to Help with Chicago Citations

To see examples of what Chicago style citations should look like for different source types, check out the following websites. These websites provide guidance on how to format footnotes and bibliography entries for a variety of source types. 

• Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide (Notes & Bibliography) This webpage provides examples of footnotes, shortened footnotes, and bibliography entries for a variety of source types, including books, journal articles, and webpages.
• Chicago Style Example Citations (WPI Library) This webpage provides guidance on how to format footnotes and bibliography entries for a variety of source types.
• Chicago Manual of Style, Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) The OWL at Purdue provides guidance on how to write Chicago style citations. Use the tabs on the left to see examples of Chicago style citations for different types of sources.
• Sample Paper using Chicago Style The OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University has an annotated sample paper in Chicago style, which is helpful for seeing an example of what the formatting of your paper should look like.

Video: Chicago Citations

Run Time: 2:54

Key Student Learning Competencies: 

• When & Why for Using Chicago (0:25)
• Chicago In-Text Citations (0:32)
• Chicago In-Text Footnotes: Books (0:50)
• Chicago In-Text Footnotes: Journals (1:25)
• Chicago Bibliographies (1:58)
• More Resources (2:31)
• Chicago Citations Video Transcript

You should include a footnote each time you use a source, whether through a direct quote or through a paraphrase or summary.

Formatting Footnotes:

• Note numbers should begin with “1” and follow consecutively throughout a given paper.   Each new citation gets a new number, even if you have already cited that source.
• In the text, a superscript number corresponding to the note should be placed in the text when you reference information in a source. Note numbers should be placed at the end of the clause or sentence to which they refer and should be placed after any and all punctuation.   
• Write the footnotes in the footer of the page on which the source is referenced. The footnote should begin with the same number used in the text of the paper. The first note for each source should include  all  relevant information about the source: full name(s) of the author(s), source title, and facts of publication. If you cite the same source again, the note need only include the surname(s) of the author(s), a shortened form of the title (if more than four words), and page number(s).
• For each footnote, include the page number(s) for where you found the information you are citing. If the source does not have page numbers, cite the  chapter number, section heading, or paragraph number.
• If you wish to include commentary on the source, place the commentary after the citation in the footnote. Separate the citation and the commentary with a period.  

Bibliography

In the Chicago NB system, the bibliography provides an alphabetical list of all sources used in a given work. This page, most often titled Bibliography, is usually placed at the end of the work. It should include all sources cited within the work.

Although bibliographic entries for various sources may be formatted differently, all included sources (books, articles, websites, etc.) are arranged alphabetically by author’s last name. If no author or editor is listed on a source, the title of that source may be used instead for alphabetization in the bibliography. 

Common Elements

Entries in the bibliography generally include the author (or editor, compiler, translator), title, and publication information. The publication information includes the publication date. For books, include the city of publication and the name of the publisher. For journal articles, include the name of the journal. For journal articles, also include the volume number, issue number, and page range if this information is available. For online sources, include a DOI (digital object identifier) or URL. 

Author’s Names

The first author’s name is inverted in the bibliography, placing the last name first and separating the last name and first name with a comma; for example, John Smith becomes Smith, John. (If an author is not listed first, this applies to compilers, translators, etc.) If there is more than one author, write the first author's name as Surname, First Name. Write the other author's names as First Name Surname. 

Titles of books and journals are italicized. Titles of articles, chapters, webpages, etc. are placed in quotation marks.

Publication Information

The year of publication is listed after the publisher or journal name.

Punctuation

In a bibliography, all major elements are separated by periods.

Formatting the Bibliography:

• Label your comprehensive list of sources at the end of your paper as “Bibliography.”
• Start the bibliography on a new page at the end of your paper. 
• Leave two blank lines between “Bibliography” and your first entry.  
• Leave one blank line between remaining entries.  
• List entries in letter-by-letter alphabetical order according to the first word in each entry.  
• Use “and,” not an ampersand (&) for multi-author entries.  
• For two to three authors, write out all names.  
• For four to ten authors, write out all names in the bibliography but only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in footnotes.  
• When a source has no identifiable author, cite it by its title.
• Write out publishers’ names in full.  
• Do not use access dates unless publication dates are unavailable.   
• If you cannot ascertain the publication date of a  printed  work, use the abbreviation “n.d.”
• If you cannot ascertain the publication date of an online  work, write the date that you accessed that work. 
• Provide DOIs (digital object identifiers) instead of URLs whenever possible

MLA Citations are commonly used in Humanities research. 

MLA Handbook (9th Ed.) 

MLA Guide and Sample Paper from the Purdue OWL: 

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide
• MLA Sample Paper

MLA Citations Video

Run Time: 3:17

• What is MLA? (0:20)
• MLA In-Text Citations (0:50)
• MLA Reference List Overview (1:24)
• MLA Reference List: Journals (1:47)
• MLA Reference List: Books (2:33)
• MLA Reference List: Resource w/ Container (2:54)
• MLA Citations Video Transcript

In-Text Citations

The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the list of works cited. For the most part, an in-text citation is the  author’s name and page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) in parentheses . For example: 

Imperialism is “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory”      ( Said 9 ).

According to  Edward W. Said , imperialism is defined by “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” ( 9 ).

Your reader can then go to your Works Cited list to find the full citation for this source:

Works Cited

Said, Edward W.   Culture and Imperialism.  Knopf, 1994.

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference, like so (00:02:15-00:02:35).

Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide your reader with a reference without interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without becoming distracted by extra information.

How to Create a Citation for the Works Cited List

MLA is a style of documentation that is based on a general method that may be applied to every possible source

Overview:  

 In your citation, the core elements should be listed in the following order:

• Title of source.
• Title of container,
• Other contributors,
• Publication date,

Each element should be followed by the punctuation mark shown here.

Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name, as presented in the work. End this element with a period.

Said, Edward W.  Culture and Imperialism.  Knopf, 1994.

Title of Source:

The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks.

A book should be in italics:

Henley, Patricia.  The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.  

A website should be in italics:

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili."  eHow,  www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.

A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper article) should be in quotation marks:

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu."  Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature , vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks:

Beyoncé. "Pray You Catch Me."  Lemonade,  Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

Title of Container:

Containers are the larger wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container. The title of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma, since the information that follows next describes the container.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl."  The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories,  edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.

“94 Meetings.”  Parks and Recreation,  created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works.

Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach.  Skewed & Reviewed, 27 Apr. 2009, www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1056940-skewed-%2526-reviewed-interviews-craig. Accessed 15 Mar. 2009.

In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of short stories on  Google Books , or watched a television series on  Netflix . You might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite these containers within containers so that your readers can find the exact source that you used.

“94 Meetings.”  Parks and Recreation , season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010.  Netflix,   www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.”  Historical Journal , vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96.  ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Other Contributors:

In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation.

Foucault, Michel.  Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.  Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Woolf, Virginia.  Jacob’s Room . Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.

If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.

The Bible . Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee.  Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students.  3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book, or journal with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.”  Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal,  vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.

“94 Meetings.”  Parks and Recreation,  created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

Quintilian.  Institutio Oratoria.  Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.

The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by a forward slash (/).

Klee, Paul.  Twittering Machine.  1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York.  The Artchive,   www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators.  Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

Note : the publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources: periodicals, works published by their author or editor, a Web cite whose title is the same name as its publisher, a Web cite that makes works available but does not actually publish them (such as  YouTube ,  WordPress , or  JSTOR ).

Publication Date:

The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an online version of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired on a broadcast network on one date, but released on  Netflix  on a different date. When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your use of it. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication.

In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and “Hush” was released in 1999. This is the way to create a general citation for a television episode.

“Hush.”  Buffy the Vampire Slayer , created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999.

However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the date of airing, you would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant Enemy), because it was the network (rather than the production company) that aired the episode on the date you’re citing.

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999.

You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.

An essay in a book, or an article in journal should include page numbers.

Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.”  The Thing around Your Neck,  Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94.

The location of an online work should include a URL.

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention."  Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

A physical object that you experienced firsthand should identify the place of location.

Matisse, Henri.  The Swimming Pool.  1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Additional Information:

Date of original publication:

If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include both dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.

Erdrich, Louise.  Love Medicine.  1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

City of publication:

The city in which a publisher is located is only necessary in particular instances, such as in a work published before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with the city in which they were published, your documentation may substitute the city name for the publisher’s name.

Thoreau, Henry David.  Excursions . Boston, 1863.

Date of access:

When you cite an online source, the  MLA Handbook  recommends including a date of access on which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or move at any time.

Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web."  A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites,  16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

While the eighth edition recommends including URLs when you cite online sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and include URLs at their discretion.

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source is locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a URL.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates."  Environmental Toxicology , vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94.  Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20155.

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FAQ: How do I cite a MindEdge textbook or resource in MLA style?

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The proper way to cite MindEdge resources can vary by department, course, and instructor, so always be sure to check with your professor about how they would like you to cite MindEdge resources. However, the following are examples of how MindEdge resources could be cited based on the MLA citation manual guidelines:

Works Cited Page

General ebook format .

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName MiddleInitial.  Title of Book . Publisher, Year Published. Title of database or website, URL or DOI.

NOTE: When an organization is both author and publisher of a work, the organization’s name is given only once, usually as the publisher. No author is stated.

For Example

FAS-201: Introduction to Humanities I . MindEdge. Brightspace,  https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/ .

NOTE: When there is no publication date, skip that part of the citation.

Corresponding In-Text Citation

NOTE: The MLA Handbook suggests using chapter or paragraph numbers when no page numbers are available, but only if the chapter or paragraphs are  explicitly included  in the original text. If there are no page, chapter, paragraph, or section numbers in the original text, then no numbers should be included in the citation.

More Examples

• MLA guide - Example Citations: Books  (Shapiro Library)

This information is intended to be a guideline, not expert advice. Please be sure to speak to your professor about the appropriate way to cite sources in your class assignments and projects.

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MLA Formatting Quotations

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MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on their length. Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating quotations into your paper. Please note that all pages in MLA should be double-spaced .

Short quotations

To indicate short quotations (four typed lines or fewer of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page number (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the in-text citation, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation.

Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage, but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

For example, when quoting short passages of prose, use the following examples:

When using short (fewer than three lines of verse) quotations from poetry, mark breaks in verse with a slash, ( / ), at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the slash). If a stanza break occurs during the quotation, use a double slash ( // ).

Long quotations

For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented 1/2   inch  from the left margin while maintaining double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should come  after the closing punctuation mark . When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)

For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples :

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

When citing long sections of poetry (four lines of verse or more), keep formatting as close to the original as possible.

In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:

The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We Romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. (qtd. in Shrodes, Finestone, Shugrue 202)

When citing two or more paragraphs, use block quotation format, even if the passage from the paragraphs is less than four lines. If you cite more than one paragraph, the first line of the second paragraph should be indented an extra 1/4 inch to denote a new paragraph:

In "American Origins of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Movement," David Russell argues,

Writing has been an issue in American secondary and higher education since papers and examinations came into wide use in the 1870s, eventually driving out formal recitation and oral examination. . . .

From its birth in the late nineteenth century, progressive education has wrestled with the conflict within industrial society between pressure to increase specialization of knowledge and of professional work (upholding disciplinary standards) and pressure to integrate more fully an ever-widening number of citizens into intellectually meaningful activity within mass society (promoting social equity). . . . (3)

Adding or omitting words in quotations

If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text:

If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipses, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example:

Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless they would add clarity.

When omitting words from poetry quotations, use a standard three-period ellipses; however, when omitting one or more full lines of poetry, space several periods to about the length of a complete line in the poem:

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Book Citations / Learn how to cite “The things they carried” by Tim O’Brien

Learn how to cite “The things they carried” by Tim O’Brien

Learn how to create in-text citations and a full citation/reference/note for The things they carried by Tim O’Brien using the examples below. The things they carried  is cited in 14 different citation styles, including MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, APA, ACS, and many others.

If you are looking for additional help, try the EasyBib citation generator .

Popular Citation Styles

Here are The things they carried citations for five popular citation styles: MLA, APA, Chicago (notes-bibliography), Chicago (author-date), and Harvard style.

Additional Styles

Here are The things they carried citations for 14 popular citation styles including Turabian style, the American Medical Association (AMA) style, the Council of Science Editors (CSE) style, IEEE, and more.

Find citation guides for additional books linked here .

Popular Book Citations

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• How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Published on April 8, 2022 by Courtney Gahan and Jack Caulfield. Revised on June 1, 2023.

Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning.

Paraphrasing is an alternative to  quoting (copying someone’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks ). In academic writing, it’s usually better to integrate sources by paraphrasing instead of quoting. It shows that you have understood the source, reads more smoothly, and keeps your own voice front and center.

Every time you paraphrase, it’s important to cite the source . Also take care not to use wording that is too similar to the original. Otherwise, you could be at risk of committing plagiarism .

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Table of contents

How to paraphrase in five easy steps, how to paraphrase correctly, examples of paraphrasing, how to cite a paraphrase, paraphrasing vs. quoting, paraphrasing vs. summarizing, avoiding plagiarism when you paraphrase, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about paraphrasing.

If you’re struggling to get to grips with the process of paraphrasing, check out our easy step-by-step guide in the video below.

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Putting an idea into your own words can be easier said than done. Let’s say you want to paraphrase the text below, about population decline in a particular species of sea snails.

Incorrect paraphrasing

You might make a first attempt to paraphrase it by swapping out a few words for  synonyms .

Like other sea creatures inhabiting the vicinity of highly populated coasts, horse conchs have lost substantial territory to advancement and contamination , including preferred breeding grounds along mud flats and seagrass beds. Their Gulf home is also heating up due to global warming , which scientists think further puts pressure on the creatures , predicated upon the harmful effects extra warmth has on other large mollusks (Barnett, 2022).

This attempt at paraphrasing doesn’t change the sentence structure or order of information, only some of the word choices. And the synonyms chosen are poor:

• “Advancement and contamination” doesn’t really convey the same meaning as “development and pollution.”
• Sometimes the changes make the tone less academic: “home” for “habitat” and “sea creatures” for “marine animals.”
• Adding phrases like “inhabiting the vicinity of” and “puts pressure on” makes the text needlessly long-winded.
• Global warming is related to climate change, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.

Because of this, the text reads awkwardly, is longer than it needs to be, and remains too close to the original phrasing. This means you risk being accused of plagiarism .

Correct paraphrasing

Let’s look at a more effective way of paraphrasing the same text.

Here, we’ve:

• Only included the information that’s relevant to our argument (note that the paraphrase is shorter than the original)
• Introduced the information with the signal phrase “Scientists believe that …”
• Retained key terms like “development and pollution,” since changing them could alter the meaning
• Structured sentences in our own way instead of copying the structure of the original
• Started from a different point, presenting information in a different order

Because of this, we’re able to clearly convey the relevant information from the source without sticking too close to the original phrasing.

Explore the tabs below to see examples of paraphrasing in action.

• Journal article
• Newspaper article
• Magazine article

Once you have your perfectly paraphrased text, you need to ensure you credit the original author. You’ll always paraphrase sources in the same way, but you’ll have to use a different type of in-text citation depending on what citation style you follow.

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

It’s a good idea to paraphrase instead of quoting in most cases because:

• Paraphrasing shows that you fully understand the meaning of a text
• Your own voice remains dominant throughout your paper
• Quotes reduce the readability of your text

But that doesn’t mean you should never quote. Quotes are appropriate when:

• Giving a precise definition
• Saying something about the author’s language or style (e.g., in a literary analysis paper)
• Providing evidence in support of an argument
• Critiquing or analyzing a specific claim

A paraphrase puts a specific passage into your own words. It’s typically a similar length to the original text, or slightly shorter.

When you boil a longer piece of writing down to the key points, so that the result is a lot shorter than the original, this is called summarizing .

Paraphrasing and quoting are important tools for presenting specific information from sources. But if the information you want to include is more general (e.g., the overarching argument of a whole article), summarizing is more appropriate.

When paraphrasing, you have to be careful to avoid accidental plagiarism .

This can happen if the paraphrase is too similar to the original quote, with phrases or whole sentences that are identical (and should therefore be in quotation marks). It can also happen if you fail to properly cite the source.

Paraphrasing tools are widely used by students, and can be especially useful for non-native speakers who may find academic writing particularly challenging. While these can be helpful for a bit of extra inspiration, use these tools sparingly, keeping academic integrity in mind.

To make sure you’ve properly paraphrased and cited all your sources, you could elect to run a plagiarism check before submitting your paper. And of course, always be sure to read your source material yourself and take the first stab at paraphrasing on your own.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Critical thinking

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:

• Reformulating the sentence (e.g., change active to passive , or start from a different point)
• Combining information from multiple sentences into one
• Leaving out information from the original that isn’t relevant to your point
• Using synonyms where they don’t distort the meaning

The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.

Paraphrasing without crediting the original author is a form of plagiarism , because you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

However, paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you correctly cite the source . This means including an in-text citation and a full reference, formatted according to your required citation style .

As well as citing, make sure that any paraphrased text is completely rewritten in your own words.

Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas in your own words.

So when does paraphrasing count as plagiarism?

• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if you don’t properly credit the original author.
• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if your text is too close to the original wording (even if you cite the source). If you directly copy a sentence or phrase, you should quote it instead.
• Paraphrasing  is not plagiarism if you put the author’s ideas completely in your own words and properly cite the source .

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To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

• Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
• You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
• You’re presenting a precise definition
• You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Gahan, C. & Caulfield, J. (2023, June 01). How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-paraphrase/

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